Month: September 2023

As the digital landscape evolves, the hierarchy of top developer roles adopts a pyramid design, with programmers holding the lion’s share at 43.2%. The revolutionary wave of digital transformation and the advent of groundbreaking technologies have substantially increased the appetite for developer roles. These innovative tech breakthroughs are fuelling the need for diverse and adaptable developer capabilities. In this structure, students studying Computer and Data Science represent 15.1%, followed by team leads and architects who account for 9.64% and 9.15% respectively. Capping the pyramid are C-level notches, including IT Managers, forming 8.38% of the total. In response to the rapid influx of emerging technologies, tech professionals are urged to master a range of in-demand skills, thus ensuring an edge in this mutable tech arena. This not only augments their adaptability and earnings potential but also paves the way for ongoing career progression. Additionally, tech professionals looking to stay ahead of the curve could consider ‘cross-training’ – the practice of mastering multiple programming languages. This sort of digital polyglotism can yield a trifecta of benefits: bolstering one’s versatility in an ever-shifting tech landscape, enhancing one’s earning capacity, and setting the stage for sustained career success.

Become a versatile programmer 

Cross-training in multiple programming languages will make you a versatile programmer — one who’s able to avoid the common issue of tunnel vision. Unfortunately, programmers experienced in just one programming language typically get locked into a set way of operating. Problems and obstacles are therefore generally approached in the “one correct way”. However, it pays to remember there are multiple approaches to problem-solving in software development. Just take a look at how different the Go and JavaScript methods of error handling are: 

// Go

err := doSomethingDangerous()

if err != nil {

  fmt.Println(err)

}

Compared to: 

// JavaScript

try {

doSomethingDangerous()

} catch (err){

  console.log(err)

}

Both methods have their strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation. Go’s method, for example, works well for enterprise software development, while JavaScript is more useful for webpage rendering. Ultimately, when you cross-train in multiple languages, you’ll gain a better understanding of each one, which means you can more easily recognize the best approach for solving a problem at hand. 

Keep your skills fresh and relevant

The programming landscape is ever-evolving. An unexpected change can easily make any skill you’ve learned either outdated or, conversely, highly relevant. For example, the once-popular Apple’s Object-C has now fallen out of favour. At the same time, Fortan — the first-ever commercial programming language — recently returned after over ten years out of the spotlight. So, by limiting yourself to skills in just one language, you face a higher risk of getting left behind if that language ever declines in popularity in the future — or if your business simply decides to move in another direction and adopt a new technology you’re not already skilled in. Cross-training will put you in a better position to adapt to the industry’s changing needs as and when they happen and open you up to more opportunities. Yet, although you may realize the importance of cross-training, you may find it challenging to fit it into your busy schedule. Fortunately, eLearning is a simple and convenient way to fit your studies in. Elearning courses primarily offer the benefit of being flexible. The course content is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week — you simply log on and off again as suits your schedule. 

Boost your earning potential

“Tech workers’ salaries can grow as much as 69% as they gain more knowledge and experience”, Bankrate reports. In the case of software development, cross-training in multiple languages is a particularly effective way to boost your earning potential. Recent research into the programming language requirements of job vacancies across Fortune 500 companies determined that not even one business is looking for a new hire proficient in just one language. Rather, a total of four different languages are required on average. YouTube, for example, uses multiple languages: JavaScript on the front-end, and C, C++, Java, Go, and Python on the back-end, while MariaDB, Vites, and Bigtable are used for the database. Similarly, Amazon uses Java, JavaScript, Swift, C++, and Ruby. And, you’ll find the same goes for every other major tech company — they’re all looking for developers trained in multiple languages. So, by cross-training in multiple languages, you’ll easily make yourself a more attractive candidate to major companies and therefore increase your chances of drawing a huge paycheck.  

Sticking to learning just one programming language curbs your growth potential, and also puts you at greater risk of becoming irrelevant later down the line. Fortunately, cross-training in multiple programming languages can help you become a more versatile programmer, keep your skills fresh and relevant, and boost your earning potential all in one.

Developers spend their entire working lives around state-of-the-art technology. Not only do they use it, they create it. When the developer is also the user, it’s likely that their user experience (UX) is going to differ substantially from that of the typical target end user. This divergence can quickly grow into a gaping chasm, a wide gulf between what the end user encounters in working with the technology and what the developer intended in creating it. 

After all, the average developer’s perception of “intuitive design” may well look intimidating, frustrating, and unnecessarily complex to the end user. This is why, ultimately, a developer’s creation will live or die with the user. It’s not about how sophisticated the design is or how advanced the skill set required to build it may be. It’s about how readily your end user can master the technology, and discover, explore, and adopt the tool’s diverse functions. It’s about how your end user feels about the technology when they encounter it for the first time.

That’s why the synergy between developers and the user experience is of the utmost importance. Without this strong nexus between the two, the final product is liable to fail. Let’s examine the synergy between developers and user experience and how you can maximize it for exceptional outcomes.

Minding the Gap

One of the greatest threats to the success of any development project is the UX blind spot that can so easily emerge as developers pursue their own vision of success. This is why UX must remain top of mind at all phases of the development process. 

This requires both discipline and commitment. Integrating UX considerations at every stage inevitably means that linear development is unlikely. The good news, though, is that recursive and responsive design processes, such as those used in Agile development, can be more efficient, productive, and cost-effective. 

The key to this process, however, lies not only in frequent UX testing but also in testing the right things. As a developer, for example, you might be interested in how the end user experiences a particular function, whereas they may encounter unexpected obstacles that take precedence for them. 

Navigation tools that you’ve worked so diligently to make both intuitive and highly functional will mean nothing if you’ve not scaled the technology appropriately. Thus, while you might see only the elegant design and hours of effort expended to create it, your end user will notice only the painfully slow responsiveness. 

This means that UX testing must consider, and even prioritize, the macro view as well as the micro. If you’re soliciting only user feedback on the functionality and aesthetics of the navigation tool, in other words, you’re going to miss the critical factor that’s undermining your UX. 

Collaboration and Consensus

As we’ve seen, UX, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder, and that means that it’s not enough to rely only on teams of developers and designers to predict the users’ experience. You must collaborate with those outside of the team’s own technology bubble.

Interdepartmental collaboration is essential not only for understanding how your target end user is likely to experience the technology but also for determining what their technology needs are. Effective UX design, in fact, is often a function of the quality of communication between developers, stakeholders, and consumers. 

Marketers, sales reps, and customer service agents are going to have a unique perspective, for instance, not only on what kinds of innovations are needed both within and outside of the organization. They’re going to have their fingers on the pulse of the market and its evolutions because they’re on the front lines, fielding consumer complaints and responding to their requests. 

They’re also working in the trenches, meaning that they have a depth of knowledge regarding your company’s tech infrastructure that even your most experienced developers may not. After all, once you’ve handed the tools off, you are likely to have comparatively little experience with the technologies that they deploy every day. 

Thus, if you want to optimize your UX design process, then you must optimize your capacity to collaborate with colleagues and partners organization-wide. It’s imperative to implement the best collaboration tools, ones that will bring together not only onsite employees but also remote workers, stakeholders, and clients. This will ensure that the feedback you receive on the needs, expectations, and experiences of your target end users will be timely, relevant, and comprehensive.

The Takeaway

Technology isn’t created in a vacuum. It’s made for a specific purpose and to serve a designated target user. But unless and until you tap into that all-important synergy between development and user experience, your technology will simply never be all that it could and should be.

In the dynamic business world, quickly adapting and innovating is key. Integrating agile development and data-driven insights has emerged as a powerful strategy to transform business analytics, fostering a more responsive and informed decision-making process.

Importance of Business Analytics

In the modern business landscape, the significance of business analytics cannot be overstated. It acts as a linchpin, facilitating a more profound comprehension of market dynamics, consumer preferences, and the intricate nuances of operational efficiencies. By leveraging data and analytical tools, organizations can dissect complex market trends, identify patterns, and anticipate consumer behaviours with a higher degree of accuracy. This analytical approach fosters informed decision-making and crafts a roadmap for sustainable business growth, helping firms stay ahead in the competitive market.

Business analytics serves as a robust foundation for strategic planning, enabling organizations to devise dynamic and responsive strategies to market fluctuations. Through the systematic analysis of data, companies can pinpoint areas of improvement, optimize operations, and innovate their product offerings to meet the evolving demands of consumers. It aids in risk management, helping businesses navigate potential pitfalls with foresight and preparedness. In essence, business analytics is a vital tool that empowers organizations to grow and thrive in an ever-changing business environment, steering them towards a trajectory of success and expansion.

The Shift towards Agile Development and Data-Driven Insights

The contemporary business landscape is witnessing a paradigm shift, where agile development and data-driven insights merge to create more resilient and intelligent business models. This shift promises a revolution in how businesses analyze and respond to market dynamics.

The Concept of Agile Development

Agile development, rooted in the software development sector, has transformed how projects are managed and executed across various industries. Learning this advanced software engineering approach is characterized by its emphasis on flexibility, fostering an environment where teams can swiftly adapt to changes without getting bogged down by rigid structures and protocols. Collaboration stands as a pillar in this methodology, encouraging cross-functional teams to work synergistically, harnessing diverse skills and perspectives. By placing the customer at the heart of the development process, agile ensures that the end product is finely tuned to meet the dynamic needs and expectations of the market, fostering more significant customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The agile methodology is renowned for its iterative nature, which breaks down the project into smaller, more manageable work units, often called “sprints.” This approach facilitates quicker adjustments and allows for real-time feedback to be incorporated seamlessly, enhancing the quality and relevance of the output. By fostering a continuous improvement cycle, agile development ensures that teams are always moving forward, learning, and adapting, thereby reducing the risk of project failures and overruns. Agile development stands as a beacon of innovation and efficiency, steering organizations towards a path of success in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

Principles of Agile Development

Agile development principles include customer satisfaction through continuous delivery, welcoming changing requirements, and maintaining a sustainable pace of work. These principles foster a culture of collaboration and adaptability.

Benefits of Implementing Agile in Business Analytics

In the fast-paced world of business, the integration of agile methodologies within the realm of business analytics stands as a transformative strategy. This approach catalyzes quicker decision-making processes, vital to maintaining a competitive edge. By fostering a culture of collaboration and iterative progress, organizations can swiftly respond to market fluctuations, thereby avoiding potential pitfalls and seizing emerging opportunities. Agile practices encourage a continuous feedback loop, which significantly contributes to product quality enhancement. Through regular evaluations and adjustments, businesses can fine-tune their offerings to meet the highest standards of excellence, fostering a reputation of reliability and quality in the market.

The agile approach is intrinsically customer-centric, aiming to align the business objectives closely with the evolving needs and preferences of the customers. This alignment ensures that the products or services resonate well with the target audience and significantly boosts customer satisfaction. By being more responsive to customer feedback and market changes, organizations can create solutions that are both innovative and in tune with customer expectations. This heightened responsiveness, coupled with a commitment to continuous improvement, positions businesses to thrive in a competitive landscape, fostering long-term growth and strong customer relationships built on trust and mutual value.

The Rise of Data-Driven Insights

Data-driven insights refer to deriving meaningful information from large data sets to inform business decisions. This approach relies on data analysis and interpretation to guide strategies and actions.

Importance in Business Analytics

In business analytics, data-driven insights can provide a competitive edge by better understanding market trends, customer preferences, and operational efficiencies. It allows businesses to decide wisely based on factual data.

Case Studies: Successful Implementation of Data-Driven Strategies

• Company X: Leveraged data analytics to optimize their supply chain, resulting in a 20% increase in efficiency.
• Company Y: Utilized data insights to enhance customer experience, significantly boosting customer retention rates.

Integrating Agile Development and Data-Driven Insights

The Need for Integration

Integrating agile development and data-driven insights is essential to foster continuous improvement and innovation. It allows for a synergistic approach to business analytics, where insights drive agile processes, leading to more informed and effective strategies.

Strategies for Successful Integration

• Collaborative Teams: Creating cross-functional teams that work collaboratively to analyze data and implement agile strategies.
• Feedback Loops: Establishing feedback loops to gather data and adjust strategies accordingly continuously.
• Training and Development: Investing in training programs to develop skills in agile methodologies and data analytics.

Tools and Technologies Facilitating Integration

• Big Data Analytics: Software tools like Hadoop and Spark facilitate the analysis of large data sets.
• Project Management Tools: Tools such as Jira and Trello help manage agile projects effectively.

Case Studies

Company A: Transforming Business Analytics with Agile Development

Company A adopted agile methodologies to streamline its business processes, improving product development cycles and customer satisfaction.

Company B: Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Business Growth

Company B utilized data-driven insights to identify new market opportunities, leading to significant business growth and expansion.

Comparative Analysis: Success Stories and Lessons Learned

A comparative analysis of Companies A and B reveals the potential of integrating agile development and data-driven insights in transforming business analytics, offering valuable lessons for other organizations.

Challenges and Solutions

Identifying and Overcoming Challenges

Organizations face challenges integrating agile development and data-driven insights, including cultural resistance and data management issues. Strategies such as change management and continuous training through data analytics courses can help overcome these challenges.

Strategies for Effective Implementation

• Leadership Support: Gaining support from leadership to drive the integration initiative.
• Pilot Programs: Implementing pilot programs to test and refine the integration strategies.

Expert Opinions and Advice

Experts suggest a phased approach to integration, focusing on building a culture of collaboration and continuous learning.

Future Trends

Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning

The future of business analytics is poised to be shaped by advancements in predictive analytics and machine learning, offering new avenues for data analysis and insight generation.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Analytics

Artificial intelligence is set to play a profound role in business analytics, offering automated and intelligent analysis of data and facilitating more informed decision-making.

The Future of Agile and Data-Driven Business Strategies

The integration of agile and data-driven strategies promises a future of more responsive and intelligent business models capable of swiftly adapting to changing market dynamics.

Conclusion

Integrating agile development and data-driven insights offers a transformative approach to business analytics, fostering a culture of innovation and informed decision-making. As businesses venture into this integrated approach, they stand to gain from the synergies of agile methodologies and data-driven insights, paving the way for a more resilient and competitive business landscape.

Developing real-time engagement applications where users interact with each other using live audio, video, and text is a really complex challenge. It requires a lot of time and effort to build out the infrastructure and logic to support these features. The biggest challenge is to have your infrastructure be reliable, scalable, and low latency to deliver the best user experience.

At Agora, we’re solving this problem for developers at scale. Agora’s Software-Defined Real-Time Network™ provides the broadest range of coverage throughout the world (200+ countries), while delivering high-quality with ultra-low latency (400ms or less). To make leveraging the Agora platform easy for developers we offer easy to use SDKs for Android, iOS/macOS, Windows, Web, Electron, Flutter, React Native, Unity and more. With our SDKs you can build and deploy your real-time engagement application in a matter of hours instead of days.

Getting back to the topic for this blog, how does one build a video conferencing app with Agora and React? Agora recently announced a new beta SDK for React. We’ll look at how it works with a simple demo app.

Getting Started

Creating an Account with Agora

• Sign up for an account and log in to the Agora Console.
• Navigate to the Project List tab under the Project Management tab
• Create a project by clicking the blue “Create” button.
• When prompted to use App ID + Certificate, select App ID only.
• Retrieve the App ID, which will be used to authorize your requests while you’re developing the application.

Note: This blog does not implement token authentication, which is recommended for all RTE apps running in production environments. For more information about token-based authentication in the Agora platform, see this guide.

Setting up a React Project

The source for this project is available on GitHub, you can also try out a live demo.
To follow along, scaffold a React project using Vite:

1. Ensure that you have installed Node.js LTS and NPM.
2. Open a terminal and execute npm create vite@latest agora-videocall — — template react-ts
3. This creates a folder named “agora-videocall”
4. Navigate to the project: cd agora-videocall
5. Install the dependencies: npm i agora-rtc-react agora-rtc-sdk-ng
6. You can start a dev server by running npm run dev

Time to Code

We’ll start in the App.tsx file. Since this demo is going to be really simple, we’ll create all our components in the same file. Let’s start by importing the dependencies we’ll use in our application.

import { useState } from "react";
import { AgoraRTCProvider, useJoin, useLocalCameraTrack, useLocalMicrophoneTrack, usePublish, useRTCClient, useRemoteAudioTracks, useRemoteUsers, RemoteUser, LocalVideoTrack } from "agora-rtc-react";
import AgoraRTC from "agora-rtc-sdk-ng";
import "./App.css";

The Agora React SDK provides a set of hooks and components to manage the state of your application and to render the video call interface.
In our App, let’s initialize a client object from the Agora SDK and pass it to the useRTCClient hook. The client object represents the local user in the video call. Passing the object to the useRTCClient hook makes it available to the rest of the application (and hooks) by using a React Provider. We’ll add this in a bit, first, let’s set up our application state:

const App = () => {
  const client = useRTCClient(AgoraRTC.createClient({ codec: "vp8", mode: "rtc" }));
  const [channelName, setChannelName] = useState("test");
  const [AppID, setAppID] = useState("");
  const [token, setToken] = useState(null);
  const [inCall, setInCall] = useState(false);

• channelName: Represents the name of the channel where users can join to chat with one another. Let’s call our channel “test”.
• AppID: Holds the Agora App ID that we obtained before from the Agora Console. Replace the empty string with your App ID.
• token: If you’re using tokens, you can provide one here. But for this demo we’ll just set it as null.
• inCall: A Boolean state variable to track whether the user is currently in a video call or not.

Next, we display the App component. In the return block, we’ll render an h1 element to display our heading. Now, based on the inCall state variable, we’ll display either a Form component to get details (App ID, channel name, and token) from the user or display the video call:

return (
    <div style={styles.container}>
      <h1>Agora React Videocall</h1>
      {!inCall ? (
        <Form
          AppID={AppID}
          setAppID={setAppID}
          channelName={channelName}
          setChannelName={setChannelName}
          token={token}
          setToken={setToken}
          setInCall={setInCall}
        />
      ) : (
        {/* Videocall here */}
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

To create the video call component, let’s first wrap it with the AgoraRTCProvider component, this accepts a client returned from the useRTCClient hook and makes it accessible down the tree. You should add this at the top level of your video call.
We’ll create a <Videos> component next, to hold the users’ videos, passing it our props from before. We’ll also display an End Call button that ends the call by setting the inCall state to false:

return (
    <div style={styles.container}>
      <h1>Agora React Videocall</h1>
      {!inCall ? (
        <Form
          AppID={AppID}
          setAppID={setAppID}
          channelName={channelName}
          setChannelName={setChannelName}
          token={token}
          setToken={setToken}
          setInCall={setInCall}
        />
      ) : (
        <AgoraRTCProvider client={client}>
          <Videos channelName={channelName} AppID={AppID} token={token} />
          <button onClick={() => setInCall(false)}>End Call</button>
        </AgoraRTCProvider>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Video Component

We destructure the props to access the AppID, channelName and token.
The Agora React SDK also gives you useLocalMicrophoneTrack and useLocalCameraTrack hooks, these create and set up the local microphone and camera tracks respectively. Since the process to create these tracks is asynchronous they also give you a loading and an error state along with the tracks.

function Videos(props: { channelName: string; AppID: string; token: string }) {
  const { AppID, channelName, token } = props;
  const { isLoading: isLoadingMic, localMicrophoneTrack } = useLocalMicrophoneTrack();
  const { isLoading: isLoadingCam, localCameraTrack } = useLocalCameraTrack();

We can use the useRemoteUsers hook to access the other (remote) users that join our video call. This hook gives you an array of objects, each object represents remote users in the call. The array is like your React state that gets updated each time someone joins or leaves the channel, we’ll use this to render our UI and keep it in sync with the form of the call:

 const remoteUsers = useRemoteUsers();

We can use the usePublish hook to publish the local microphone and camera tracks. You can pass in an array of tracks you want to publish to the channel, these tracks can be subscribed and viewed by other users who join the same channel.

 usePublish([localMicrophoneTrack, localCameraTrack]);

To start the call we need to join a room or a channel. We can do that by calling the useJoin hook and passing in the AppID, channelName, and token as props.

useJoin({
    appid: AppID,
    channel: channelName,
    token: token === "" ? null : token,
  });

We can access the remote users’ audio tracks with the useRemoteAudioTracks hook by providing it the remoteUsers array. This hook automatically handles subscribing and unsubscribing to the user tracks as your component is mounted and tracks are available.

const { audioTracks } = useRemoteAudioTracks(remoteUsers);

To listen to the remote users’ tracks, we can map over the audioTracks array and call the play method for each available track:

 audioTracks.map((track) => track.play());

We’ll check if either the microphone or the camera is still loading and render a simple loading message:

const deviceLoading = isLoadingMic || isLoadingCam;
  if (deviceLoading) return <div style={styles.grid}>Loading devices...</div>;

Once the tracks are ready, we can render a grid with videos of all the users in the channel. We can render the user’s own (local) video track using the LocalVideoTrack component from the SDK, passing it the localCameraTrack as the track prop:

return (
    <div style={{ ...styles.grid, ...returnGrid(remoteUsers) }}>
      <LocalVideoTrack track={localCameraTrack} play={true} style={styles.gridCell} />
      {/* Remote videos here */}
    </div>
  );
}

We can display the remote users’ video tracks using the RemoteUser component. We’ll iterate through the remoteUsers array, passing each user as a prop to it:

return (
    <div style={{ ...styles.grid, ...returnGrid(remoteUsers) }}>
      <LocalVideoTrack track={localCameraTrack} play={true} style={styles.gridCell} />
      {remoteUsers.map((user) => (
        <RemoteUser user={user} style={styles.gridCell} />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

These components are unopinionated so you can style them as you like.

That’s all the code we need to build a video conferencing app with Agora and React. Here’s what the final code looks like:

function Videos(props: { channelName: string; AppID: string; token: string }) {
  const { AppID, channelName, token } = props;
  const { isLoading: isLoadingMic, localMicrophoneTrack } = useLocalMicrophoneTrack();
  const { isLoading: isLoadingCam, localCameraTrack } = useLocalCameraTrack();
  const remoteUsers = useRemoteUsers();
  const { audioTracks } = useRemoteAudioTracks(remoteUsers);

  usePublish([localMicrophoneTrack, localCameraTrack]);
  useJoin({
    appid: AppID,
    channel: channelName,
    token: token === "" ? null : token,
  });

  audioTracks.map((track) => track.play());
  const deviceLoading = isLoadingMic || isLoadingCam;
  if (deviceLoading) return <div style={styles.grid}>Loading devices...</div>;

  return (
    <div style={{ ...styles.grid, ...returnGrid(remoteUsers) }}>
      <LocalVideoTrack track={localCameraTrack} play={true} style={styles.gridCell} />
      {remoteUsers.map((user) => (
        <RemoteUser user={user} style={styles.gridCell} />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

Form and styling

For the sake of completeness, here’s what the Form component looks like:

function Form(props) {
  const { AppID, setAppID, channelName, setChannelName, token, setToken, setInCall } = props;
  return (
    <div>
      <p>Please enter your Agora AppID and Channel Name</p>
      <label htmlFor="appid">Agora App ID: </label>
      <input id="appid" type="text" value={AppID} onChange={(e) => setAppID(e.target.value)} placeholder="required"/>
      <br /><br />
      <label htmlFor="channel">Channel Name: </label>
      <input id="channel" type="text" value={channelName} onChange={(e) => setChannelName(e.target.value)} placeholder="required" />
      <br /><br />
      <label htmlFor="token">Channel Token: </label>
      <input id="token" type="text" value={token} onChange={(e) => setToken(e.target.value)} placeholder="optional" />
      <br /><br />
      <button onClick={() => AppID && channelName ? setInCall(true) : alert("Please enter Agora App ID and Channel Name")}>
        Join
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

Conclusion

That’s all it takes to put together a high-quality video conferencing app with the Agora React SDK. We’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of what’s possible. You can add a ton of features like virtual backgrounds, selective subscriptions, waiting rooms and so on. Learn more by visiting the docs and our API reference.

We’re looking for feedback on how we can improve the SDK in this beta period. Please contribute by opening issues (and submitting PRs) on our GitHub repo.